Monday, September 24, 2012

Wussy Jesus

Jesus would not pack a pistol. Just as he threw the money changers out of the temple he would throw gun bearers out of the sanctuary. He would tell them to come back but only if they were unarmed...

Here is my bottom line. Jesus would not join the NRA, because he never condoned any form of violence.

It would be interesting to discover how Jesus would throw armed people out of church without any kind of violence, but for an answer it might be instructive to review how he threw the aforementioned moneychangers out of the temple the first time:

Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and to the temple, during Passover. Inside he found moneychangers sitting, along with those who sold oxen and sheep. And when he had made a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned their tables...-- John 2:13-15

That looks just a tad violent to me.* Now I suppose Jesus could have reasoned with those fine, upstanding businessmen. Surely they would have respected his oratory and agreed to peacefully move their market a few yards outside to the court. Instead he made a weapon and whipped their butts with it, then he dumped their stuff all over the floor.

Leaving aside the fact that a "sanctuary" does not exist in Christianity,** I don't see how the same Jesus who made an offensive weapon and drove people out of the temple with it would have any argument with those who would carry weapons for defensive purposes in any other kind of building. Then again, maybe the creator of the universe just doesn't understand guns like liberals do.

* What a disappointment Jesus must be to the peaceful religious liberals of this world.

** We have buildings in which we meet, but God does not dwell there like he dwelt among the Jews. They are just buildings. We even have toy gunfights in them sometimes.

6 comments:

CJ
said...

You can add in the part where Jesus tells the disciples it's time to start packing heat, they bring two swords and he says "that's enough," although some peacenik commentators will say he meant "knock it off."

Noted. I guess I've been an ex-Catholic too long. But perhaps that makes the analogy even better. If Jesus was willing to use offensive weaponry in the temple to physically drive out sinners, what possible argument could there be for against followers possessing defensive weaponry in the same place?

The problem, of course, is that liberals think that guns are evil. They draw evil to themselves and cause people to act in evil ways. In that case, I suppose you could oppose bringing evil into the sanctuary.

But if you don't believe in sympathetic magic, totems, and all of that other shamanistic rubbish, the argument against guns looks a little bit superstitious.